Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic iPadReview

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remains one of the best Star Wars games ever made, even 10 years after its original release. Read our 2003 review here. As such, there's no question about whether you should play it (yes! A thousand times yes!) but whether the iPad port's touch screen adaptation does it justice was uncertain... until now. Getting around can be a struggle, but this brilliant roleplaying game shines brightly on a mobile screen.

Exit Theatre Mode

Knights of the Old Republic is a classic-style BioWare RPG, and still stands up remarkably well. Though its action mechanics aren’t quite as polished as those of Mass Effect and Dragon Age, the characters, setting, and infamous plot twist are as well-delivered today as ever. The iPad’s touch interface is largely an improvement over the original, save for a few reservations. First, the good: the pause-and-play combat works like a charm, letting you select your attacks and items quickly. It's pulled off beautifully.

Navigating the menus and sorting equipment is also made mostly better by the advent of touch controls, except for a few instances like the Powers menu in which the icons are fairly small and the text is more difficult to read. The controls for conversation, on the other hand, can be slightly distracting. Since dialogue options correspond to a large, bubble-shaped numbers on the side of the screen, I had to find the proper response and then take a moment to finger-hunt for the correct number to go along with it.

If the new controls have one Achilles' Heel, though, it’s in the movement. Running from place to place involves dragging and then holding a finger to guide your Jedi in the proper direction. This inevitably blocks a significant chunk of the screen with your hand, and worse yet, makes for awkward running in general. It was not uncommon to find myself hitting pieces of the environment or my fellow party members, and then needing to turn and fumble my way out of that spot. This isn’t a problem during combat, at least, since movement is automated. A trio of brief turret sequences present similar imprecision, since tapping to shoot and dragging to move can’t be done simultaneously. A virtual stick may have actually been preferable in this case.

Inventory management made easy.

Still, the lack of on-screen controls makes for a simple, uncluttered interface that shows off the world, and the iPad’s display makes the colors pop nicely. Some pre-rendered cutscenes are muddy, however, and the auto-brightness setting would often leave some of the darker areas too murky to see much of anything. But once brightness is set manually, it's smooth sailing.

The Verdict

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic still holds up, and remains a must-play for younger players who didn’t catch it the first time around. Though the iPad version's touch controls make movement clumsy, most of its changes are for the better. If you haven’t played it before, or want to experience it again, this is a great way to do it.